CES News

Want to study about and in Europe? Find out more about the EURO major and the TransAtlantic Masters program

Come and learn about the EURO major and TransAtlantic Masters program at UNC. Both programs have new initiatives involving combined degrees and new overseas partner sites.

The TransAtlantic Masters program (TAM) trains graduate students pursuing international careers in administration, diplomacy, business, policy-making, consulting, teaching, and research. Offered by way of partnerships between world-renowned universities in the United States and Europe, TAM is a unique and intensive degree program. TAM students pursue graduate study on both sides of the Atlantic while earning a master’s degree.

The EURO major is designed for undergraduates interested in deepening their understanding of the politics, economics, society, and culture of present-day Europe. Students wishing to specialize in modern Europe within a particular discipline (such as Political Science, Economics, or History) are especially encouraged to pursue EURO as a second major. In response to student and faculty feedback, the EURO requirements have been revised and streamlined, effective in fall 2014. There is also a combined EURO-TAM five-year program on the horizon. Drop by the information session to find out more!

Interested in Learning a Foreign Language? Apply for FLAS!

Interested in studying a foreign language? Consider applying for a FLAS (Foreign Language & Area Studies Fellowship). These fellowships fund the study of Less Commonly Taught Languages and area studies coursework. It provides academic year and summer fellowships to assist graduate students and advanced undergraduates in foreign language and area studies. Interested candidates are advised to attend one of the following information sessions.

Spring 2014 LAC Courses

The following LAC course options will be offered during the spring semester. For course times and information on the types of different LAC options and the recommended minimum proficiency level, visit the LAC for Undergraduates page. To enroll, email the LAC Coordinator.

Swahili combined discussion section open to students in AAAD 101, ANTH 319, and PUBH 420

Spanish recitation for ENST 201: Introduction to Environment and Society

Spanish recitation for HIST 143: Latin America Since Independence

Spanish seminar: BUSI 490 sec 014: Megaprojects in Latin America

2013 CES Fall Speaker Series

Each Friday in the fall, the Center for European Studies is pleased to bring you the Friday Lecture Series, which features scholars working on European politics and practitioners of EU policy. This fall’s series focuses on three themes: contestation in Europe, addressing topics such as immigration, the radical right, public opinion, and European elections; issues of European security and defense; and European social policy in times of austerity.

Join us for our upcoming November events:

Lecture by Prof. Markus Kaim from the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP)/German Institute for International and Security Affairs: ”The Reluctant Hegemon? German Foreign Policy After the Elections”

Dr. Markus Kaim is an Adjunct Professor for the Department for Political Science at the University of Zurich and a Guest Instructor at the Hertie School of Governance, Berlin. Dr Kaim is an expert in German defense and security policy, the transatlantic security relationship, NATO, the UN, and conflict resolution. His current research examines the political parameters of multinational military operations and “Elements of a Foreign Policy Strategy for Germany,” a project with the German Marshall Fund.

Roundtable Discussion with Dusan Jovanovic, OSCE, and Prof. Jelena Subotic, Georgia State University: “War Crimes and Transitional Justice in the Former Yugoslavia”

Join us for a special roundtable discussion on international justice in the former Yugoslavia.

Dusan Jovanovic is a National Project Officer at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Mission to Serbia. Formerly a project coordinator at the Humanitarian Law Center and a legal intern at the War Crime Prosecutor’s Office in Serbia and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Mr. Jovanovic is a legal expert on war crimes and justice in the Balkans. He is a graduate of the University of Belgrade’s Faculty of Law.

Jelena Subotic (Ph.D. University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2007) is Associate Professor of Political Science at Georgia State University in Atlanta. Prof. Subotic works on international relations theory, human rights, transitional justice, identity politics, and the Balkans. She is the author of Hijacked Justice: Dealing with the Past in the Balkans (Cornell University Press, 2009). Her articles have been published in International Studies Quarterly, European Journal of International Relations, Journal of Peace Research, East European Politics and Societies, European Journal of Cultural Studies, International Journal of Transitional Justice, among others. She is also the recipient of the Peace Scholar Fellowship from the United States Institute of Peace, Fellowship in Southeast European Studies from the American Council of Learned Societies, and Advanced Research Fellowship from the American Councils for International Education.

Conferences, Workshops and Calls for Papers

9th Annual Graduate Student Conference on the European Union: “Brussels as Usual?: Politics and Policy in the EU”

February 28-March 1, 2014 | EUCE/ESC at the University of Pittsburgh and EUSA, Pittsburgh

In many ways, the EU appears to be in a period of transition: recovering from the financial crisis, continuing to implement the Lisbon Treaty’s provisions, and awaiting a new set of European elections. Have these developments produced change in the EU’s politics and policies, or has it been Brussels as usual? The Organizing Committee welcomes papers addressing the theme of the conference, as well as others related to the EU. Seeking submissions from all disciplines and topics, including, but not limited to, EU politics, governance, economics, history, security studies, institutions and behavior studies, as well as EU policy-making, enlargement, immigration, development, trade, and foreign policy. To apply, please visit the University of Pittsburgh’s EUCE/ESC site.

Deadline for submissions: November 27, 2013

10th Biennial Conference of the European Community Studies Association-Canada

May 8-10, 2014 | Montreal, Quebec, Canada

In 2012, the European Union was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace. This decision provoked strong reactions, from the Wall Street Journal praising it as “inspired” to British politicians calling it “preposterous and absurd.” Much was made of EU leaders’ initial inability to decide who would represent the organization for the award ceremony in Oslo. Commentators also derided the fact that the recognition that the European Union “for over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe” seemed to come at particularly inappropriate time, as the EU faced the worst economic and institutional crisis since its creation, perhaps forcing Greece to exit, while the UK threatened to do so.

Taking up the Nobel Committee’s challenge, the 10th Biennial Conference of European Communities Studies Association-Canada (ECSA-C) will evaluate, measure and explain the EU’s actual contribution to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights. We wish to address both the EU’s impact on the domestic politics of its member states, including citizenship, economic, cultural, democratic empowerment, freedom of movement, learning, and active citizenship, and the EU’s impact on its periphery and the world, including enlargement, foreign, security and trade policy. We will explore the role of EU institutions, but also member state governments, political, cultural and economic forces, and integration dynamics. Our objective is to provide a balanced assessment and analytical understanding of the EU’s specific contributions (or lack thereof) to peace broadly understood. Paper on any topic related to the EU will also be welcome. Particular attention will be paid to the implications and lessons learnt of the European experience for other countries and regions, especially Quebec, Canada, and North America.

Submissions, to be sent electronically to ecsa-c@umontreal.ca, can be written in English or in French. About 30 travel grants will be made available to graduate and postdoctoral students who are presenting a paper. Please indicate in your submission if you are requesting such a grant.

Deadline for submissions: December 1, 2013

7th Biennial Pan-European Conference on the European Union

June 5-7, 2014 | The Hague, The Netherlands

The ECPR Standing Group on the European Union calls for papers for its 7th biennial conference. The European Union is expecting another eventful year in 2014 with perhaps the most important European Parliament elections to date to be held in May 2014 in a climate of uncertain economic recovery, persistent decline of popular support for the Union, and unprecedented politicization of European integration in the national political arenas.

All papers and panels that discuss aspects of European integration are invited, including those that highlight new theoretical and empirical research that reflects on the ever-changing nature of the EU; the democratic legitimacy of the integration process; the evolution, functioning and effects of EU policies and institutions; the role of the EU in the broader world, and so on. The full list of conference sections and instructions for submission of panels and paper are available on the ECPR Pan-European Conference website.

Deadline for submissions: December 1, 2013

1st European Conference on Teaching and Learning Politics, International Relations and European Studies

June 26-27 | Maastricht, The Netherlands

What does it mean to teach Politics, International Relations (IR), or European Studies (ES) to the next generation of students, what should it mean for future students to learn Politics, International Relations, or European Studies? What are the opportunities of educating the next generation of a knowledge society? But also what challenges will Politics, IR and ES instructors encounter, considering the overburdening availability of (electronic) information and the growing demand for skills-based education? Next to those global trends in higher education, there are also specific features of European Higher Education that need careful consideration: the Bologna process, the employability discourse, or the raising concern with fees to mention just a few.

The aim of this conference is to bring together members of existing teaching and learning networks (ECPR, PSA, BISA and UACES) and to provide an opportunity for exchange, discussion and reflection about those questions and about teaching and learning Politics, International Relations or European Studies to future generations of students in more general terms. Contributions are welcome on any topic of teaching and learning, but we would like to encourage participants to consider the following questions:

In what respect is there a “new” generation of students? In what manner are current and future students different: in terms of their expectations, needs, and demands?

How to react and integrate the demand for skills and employability in everyday teaching?

Who should ensure students´ motivation, and how can this be achieved?

How to remember what it means to learn ourselves?

How to harness the potential for active engagement in Politics and IR teaching?

What role for Politics, IR, or ES to provide counter-balance to increasing disenchantment with politics among younger generations of citizens

Journal of Common Market Studies Symposia

The Journal of Common Market Studies (JCMS) editors encourage the occasional publication of symposia on issues of current interest to our readership. A JCMS symposium will normally comprise 4 short papers of around 4000-5000 words each, with a very short introduction normally no more than 1000 words by the symposium editor(s). We are particularly keen to consider applications that included contributions from practitioners/policy-makers. Other models may be proposed to the editors. However, we will not be considering full special issues (that is, a collection of 8-10 full-article-length papers) under the rubric of JCMS symposia. A separate call for the 2016 special issue will be circulated in May 2014.

Although we will happy to consider applications throughout the year, we will consider responses to this call after Friday, Nov. 29, 2013. If you have a proposal, please submit it to jcms@bristol.ac.uk in the form of a short 500-1000 word summary. Please include in your submission the rationale for the symposium, the names of editors and contributors, the titles of the contributions, and information on the symposium’s state of preparedness. We envisage a quick turnaround, so we are particularly interested in submissions where written papers already exist.

Fellowships, Awards and Job Opportunities

Grant Opportunities for Research on Central and East Europe

The Global Europe Program at the Wilson Center in Washington DC is offering the following grant opportunities for long-term, short-term, and summer research on Central and East Europe:

RESEARCH GRANTS

Eligibility - EES research scholarships are available to American citizens, with a special emphasis on scholars in the early stages of their academic careers (generally before tenure but after Ph.D.). For non-academics, an equivalent degree of professional achievement is expected. Research scholarships will be awarded for 2-4 months of research in Washington, DC, and the stipend amount is $3,300 per month. Office space at the Wilson Center and a research assistant will be provided whenever possible. This is a residential program requiring visiting scholars to remain in the Washington, DC area and to forego other academic and professional obligations for the duration of the grant.

two letters of recommendation in support of the research to be conducted at the Wilson Center.

Application deadline: December 1, 2013

SHORT-TERM GRANTS

Eligibility - These Title VIII grants are available to American academic experts and practitioners, including advanced graduate students, engaged in specialized research requiring access to Washington, DC and its research institutions. Grants are for one month and offer a stipend of $3,200, along with residence at the Wilson Center. Candidates must be U.S. citizens, in order to be considered eligible for this grant opportunity.

Application Information - To apply for a Title VIII Short-Term grant, the applicant must submit the following:

a concise description of his/her research project;

a curriculum vitae;

a statement of preferred and alternate dates of residence in Washington, DC;

one letter or recommendation in support of the research to be conducted at the Center.

Application deadline: December 1, 2013

SUMMER RESEARCH GRANTS

Eligibility - The grant is available to graduate students (MA or higher) and scholars who are US citizens. Summer Research Scholars will be given access to a workspace and computer facilities in the Wilson Center library. Grants are for 2 months during the summer and offer a stipend of $3,200 per month, as well as residency at the Wilson Center.

Project Scope - EES offers summer research scholarships to scholars working on policy relevant projects on East Europe. EES offers residential research scholar grants to scholars working on policy relevant projects on the following countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Projects should focus on fields in the social sciences and humanities including, but not limited to: Anthropology, History, Political Science, Slavic Languages and Literatures, and Sociology. All projects should aim to highlight their potential policy relevance.

Application Information - To apply for a Title VIII Summer Research Grant, the applicant must submit the following:

a concise description of his/her research project;

a curriculum vitae;

a statement of preferred and alternate dates of residence in Washington, DC;

two letters of recommendation in support of the research to be conducted at the Center.

The European Defence Agency (EDA) in partnership with the Egmont Institute is inviting the best and the brightest of European scholars to submit their dissertations for the EDA-Egmont PhD Prize in European Defence, Security and Strategy. Scholars who obtained a PhD in the last academic year or the beginning of current academic year (September 1, 2012, to December 1, 2013) and who feel their findings stand out in terms of quality, innovation and impact on future EU policy are encouraged to apply. Please note that to apply, you must be a citizen of an EDA Member State (all EU Member States except Denmark) or a state with an Administrative Arrangement with EDA (Switzerland, Norway). The winner will deliver a presentation EDA’s Annual Conference scheduled for March 27, 2014, in Brussels. For more information, please consult the award’s website.

Deadline for submissions: December 1, 2013

2014 EUSA Haas Fund Fellowship Competition

The 2013-15 EUSA Executive Committee is pleased to announce the 2014 EUSA Haas Fund Fellowship Competition, an annual fellowship for graduate student EU-related dissertation research. Thanks entirely to contributions to the EUSA Ernst Haas Memorial Fund for EU Studies, launched in June 2003 to honor the memory of the late scholar Ernst B. Haas (1924-2003), the organization will offer one or more unrestricted fellowship of at least $1,500 to support the dissertation research of any graduate student pursuing an EU-related dissertation topic in the academic year 2013-14.

Please note the following stipulations for applicants, who must:

be pursuing the doctoral degree (PhD) at an accredited institution in any country;

be writing a dissertation in English;

have an EU-related, doctoral dissertation topic approved by the professor who will supervise it; and,

be able to demonstrate clearly the relevance to EU studies of the dissertation topic.

Applicants for the fellowship should submit a one-page proposal of the project that specifies its relevance to EU Studies and describes how the fellowship would be used, a CV, and two letters of support to be sent directly to EUSA. The letters should be from professors serving on the student’s dissertation committee, and one should be the chair. Applicants should send their material to eusa@pitt.edu using the subject “2014 E.B. Haas Fund Fellowship competition.”

Application deadline: January 3, 2014

Postdoctoral Positions at ACCESS EUROPE Amsterdam

ACCESS EUROPE is an UvA-VUA Amsterdam Academic Alliance initiative. As a joint venture of the University of Amsterdam and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, the Amsterdam Centre for Contemporary European Studies (ACCESS EUROPE) aims to establish a new institutional platform for research, education and public debate on the European Union and its member states. ACCESS EUROPE collaborates with key players in the academic sector as well as the private sector, and local, national and European governments. ACCESS EUROPE has two principal goals. The first is to promote interdisciplinary synergy between outstanding faculties at both universities. The second is to create a forum for dialogue and exchange on urgent questions concerning the dynamics and direction of contemporary Europe between academic researchers and a wide range of public and private stakeholders.

Starting January 2014, ACCESS EUROPE offers three postdoctoral research positions for the duration of one year. The selected candidates will be working in one of the participating faculties of the UvA or the VUA.

Applications, in the form of a motivation letter that indicates the ACCESS theme with which the applicant would like to be affiliated, a full CV including an overview of publications, a one-page activity and publication plan, and two letters of recommendation, must be sent in one single pdf-file by e-mail before November 18, 2013, by following the application procedure of Academic Transfer.

Visiting Position in European Union Politics, University of Pittsburgh

The Department of Political Science at the University of Pittsburgh is seeking to fill a visiting position for a senior scholar (Associate or Full Professor) whose work focuses on the politics of the European Union. The position is for a full-time faculty member for one year, beginning in September 2014. At that time a separate search for a permanent hire in European and European Union politics is expected to take place. The person hired as Visiting Professor would teach undergraduate and graduate courses on the European Union and other courses related to his/her interests. The person hired would be invited to fully participate in the intellectual life of the Department of Political Science and the European Union Center of Excellence/European Studies Center. The Center would also make available its services and some funds to support the teaching, research and conference activities of the person hired.

Please send expressions of interest, along with an up-to-date curriculum vitae, to Professor Ronald H. Linden, Chair, Visiting European Politics Search Committee, Department of Political Science, 4600 Posvar Hall, University of Pittsburgh, 230 S. Bouquet Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15260. Review of applications will begin on December 1, 2013 and will continue until the position is filled. The University of Pittsburgh is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity Employer. Women and members of minority groups under-represented in academia are especially encouraged to apply.

Assistant Professor in Political Science, California State University, San Marcos

The Political Science Department of California State University, San Marcos, expects to hire one new tenure-track assistant professor beginning Fall 2014. The department is seeking an individual with a specialization in European Politics and/or Politics of Identity in Europe (race/ethnicity, religion or gender).

Minimum requirements for the position include: Ph.D. in political science by August 2014 and evidence of the ability to establish and maintain an active and productive research program and to demonstrate a commitment to teaching at a public university.

Preferred requirements for the position include: Evidence of effective teaching at the university level, evidence of research productivity. Preference will be given to applicants with demonstrated intercultural competence with diverse groups in teaching, research, and/or service.

Duties: The successful candidate will teach introductory Comparative Politics, courses within the area of specialization, scope and research methods, and an introductory U.S. government and politics course. Candidates should have interests in developing innovative teaching strategies, actively mentoring students, being a productive scholar, and participating in activities serving the department, college, university, and community. Candidates seeking to incorporate GIS into their classes are encouraged to apply.

NICE Welfare, Assistant Professor and Postdoctoral Positions

The University of Southern Denmark invites applications for three positions as Assistant Professor and two positions as Postdoc within the project NICE Welfare (Narratives, Indicators and Concepts in Changing European Welfare Societies), with appointment from February 15, 2014.

NICE Welfare is a newly established interdisciplinary research project that seeks to examine connections between welfare concepts, narratives and indicators. The common point of departure is the perceived mismatch between the principal social narratives, welfare concepts and the welfare indicators used. A number of radical social changes, such as globalization, individualization, immigration, demographic changes, etc., mean that there is a need for rethinking what ‘the good life’ is, the relationship between state and society as well as between citizenship and participation. The aim is to contribute to creating a more qualified research basis for solving the major social challenges that face us. This is done through empirical examinations of the relationships between narratives, concepts, indicators and social experiences in a multi-disciplinary setting, addressing the same issues from a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches.

Events for K-12 Educators

Sign up for the Euro Challenge Competition

You are invited to participate in the Euro Challenge 2014, an exciting educational opportunity for 9th- and 10th-grade high school students to learn about the European Union (EU) and its single currency, the euro. The program introduces students of global studies, world history or European studies economics and offers a unique learning experience that moves them out of the classroom into the real world. The competition is also an excellent opportunity for teachers, as teachers enlisting a team in the Euro Challenge are eligible to be awarded a free trip to Brussels next summer. Help your students experience the history that is unfolding before our eyes in the euro area!

For the competition, students research problems and solutions to Europe’s economic challenges. A team of three to five students presents its findings in a competition format. The best teams from each region travel to New York City to compete in the national finals at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Conditional on an annual grant, winning teams can win awards and a trip to Washington generously offered by The Moody’s Foundation. Students from schools in almost 20 states compete in the Challenge.

The competition requires no previous knowledge of economics or Europe, and students and teachers can access an array of educational resources and training materials on the Euro Challenge website. To help students and educators prepare, free orientations at UNC-Chapel Hill, webinars and news flashes are also provided during the year.

The North Carolina European Union Center of Excellence is proud to offer an online Euro Economics "textbook" intended as an introduction to economics for teachers and students in high school grades and up.

Register online today for the Euro Challenge competition! For more information about the competition in the North Carolina/Southeast region, email Erica Edwards or call 919-843-9853.

World View’s 2013 Community College Symposium, Global Issues and Global Solutions, tackles pressing global issues of the 21st century and explores pathways to overcome these challenges. We’ll examine global health, economy, environment, poverty, immigration, the Middle East, and more. This program will help educators understand these global issues, our connection to them, and how to integrate them into the classroom. The symposium is designed for administrators and faculty of all disciplines, providing current information and unique strategies for helping students learn about the world. This symposium offers general and concurrent on integrating global issues into your courses. Professional development contact hours will be offered.

Mustafa Tuna, Duke University | “The Opportunity Costs of Islamophobia: The Missionary-State Alliance against Volga-Ural Muslim Activism in the Late Russian Empire”

Panel II: The Soviet Era

Eren Tasar, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | “Dissecting Soviet-Muslim Accommodation in Central Asia after World War II: An Historical Examination of Institutions and Ideas”

Eliyana Adler, University of Maryland at College Park | “Reluctant Witnesses: Polish Jewish Deportees Reflect on Life in the Soviet Union at War”

This workshop is part of the Duke University Center for European Studies’ initiative on “Jews & Muslims: Histories, Diasporas, and the Meaning of the European,” which explores new comparative global approaches to the study of Jewish and Muslim communities. Supported by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Duke University Office of the Provost, the workshop is sponsored by the Center for European Studies, the Kenan Institute for Ethics, the Duke Center for Jewish Studies, and the Duke Department of Slavic and Eurasian Studies.

War, Love, and Madness: A Film Series from Central and Southeastern Europe and Russia

Sponsored by the Department of Germanic and Slavic Languages and Literatures and the Center for Slavic, Eurasian and East European Studies.

Up next, an important new joint Serbian-German production, introduced by Adnan Džumhur, with a post-film discussion:

GO! Global Engagement Info Fair

With more than 20 campus departments and student organizations participating, the fair will introduce students to global engagement opportunities and provide access to resources, funding and connections. Refreshments will be provided.

A Dwindling Band of Witnesses: Esther Ledermanʼs Story of Holocaust Survival

Ester Lederman will be sharing her brave story of Holocaust survival with the UNC-Chapel Hill community. Esther escaped Nazi-occupied Poland at a young age, lived in hiding for almost two years, and bore the tragedy of losing family members. Sponsored by UNC Scholarships and Student Aid.

Carolina for Kibera Peacock Fellowship Info Sessions

Carolina for Kibera’s Fellowship Program offers UNC students a chance to work alongside a grassroots, non-profit organization to fight poverty in one of Africa’s largest slums, Kibera, Kenya. Fellows work with US and Kenyan-based staff in the spring semester on collaborative projects to affect sustainable change, and then travel to Kibera in the summer to implement them.

Attend one of the upcoming information sessions to learn more about how you can make a difference:

November 12, 5-6:30pm Room 3009, FedEx GEC

November 20, 5-6:30pm Room 1009, FedEx GEC

This CES newsletter is sent via a moderated listserv by the Center for European Studies at UNC-CH, currently numbering more than 1,600 subscribers. To have your group's or institution's event and/or news items related to the study of contemporary Western Europe included in The Eurofile, simply send advanced notice to the Center at the following email: europe@unc.edu.

Subscribe to the CES video channel on YouTube to be notified of new videos

The channel is the home to original resources for students and the greater public too. You will find lectures from our Fall Friday series and by our esteemed visiting scholars. Enjoy our growing library of topics on contemporary Europe!